Brooks Addiction Walker Reviewed & Rated

Name: Brooks Addiction™ Walker SKU: 7414348
Uploaded: 2023-02-09
Description: The Brooks Addiction Walker is the ultimate walking shoe designed to easily blend into everyday outfits and various occasions. This supportive shoe is made of durable materials that are environment-fr

Editor rating: 8.7 / 10

User's rating: based on 9 user ratings

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By Lizzy Pavlovic

Brooks Addiction Walker Reviewed & Rated Review Facts

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The Brooks Addiction Walker is the ultimate walking shoe designed to easily blend into everyday outfits and various occasions. This supportive shoe is made of durable materials that are environment-friendly and offer a great walking experience, even on marathon walks. Comfort, durability, and support are what make this shoe a walker’s dream, with the thick cushioned yet responsive midsole being the center of the action. The Addiction Walker will make you forget about back, knee or foot pain and correct your gait so you don’t overpronate while walking, but all of this comes at a price that not everyone’s willing to pay. While steep, the price isn’t unreasonable, so it’s a matter of personal needs and preferences whether you’ll decide upon purchasing this motion-control, bulky, yet simple walking shoe.

Editor's Pros & Cons

Pros

Slip-resistant outsole provides good traction on wet and dry surfaces
Supportive shoe suitable for overpronators, low arches
BioMoGo DNA platform + PDRB midsole
Versatile and blendable
Quality leather upper
Very durable
Great comfort
Comfortable
Helps with reducing feet, leg and back pain
12mm drop favors heel-strikers
Biodegradable midsole

Cons

Pricy
Lacks breathability
Robust design might not be everyone’s cup of tea

Outsole

The outsole of the Brooks Addiction Walker is made out of slip-resistant rubber compound that is durable and made to endure long, everyday walks on concrete, pavements, and roads. The forefoot area of the outsole features smaller, denser grooves called MC Pod construction, which allows the foot to be grounded throughout its length, ensuring a stable and balanced posture during the entirety of the gait cycle. Additionally, the outsole of this walking shoe is not only slip-resistant but made out of environment-friendly materials as well, which is good news for anyone that tries to be just a little bit greener.

Midsole

The thick, steady midsole features the brand’s BioMoGo DNA platform that provides durable cushioning and great comfort. One of the platform’s main functions is to decrease the shock impact and make the walking experience as smooth as possible. The ‘DNA’ in the platform’s name stands for a specific type of fluid that changes its viscosity according to the pressure that’s applied to the midsole, which means it will firm up as great force is applied, protecting the feet and ensuring responsiveness at all times. The ‘BioMoGo’ is a type of biodegradable foam that takes a long, long time to lose its cushion and harden up a bit, making it an ideal choice for a walking shoe.

Below the arch area is the Extended Progressive Diagonal Rollbar (PDRB), which supports the arch and eases the natural heel-to-toe transition. Another thing to rave about for the environmentally conscious people is the fact that this midsole is the first of its kind – completely biodegradable, which is an amazing step forward in the efforts to preserve nature.

Upper

The whole upper of the Brooks Addiction Walker is made of full-grain leather with stitched overlays. The leather is both soft and hard-wearing, providing great comfort and durability. The inside of the upper is covered in soft, plush-like material that ensures a snug fit without creating pressure on the foot. The plush is especially thick in the collar-ankle area in order to prevent any itching and irritation that may occur during long walks. The lacing system of this comfy shoe is traditional, as expected, and at the middle of the padded tongue is a leather lace loop through which to pull laces in order to prevent the tongue from slipping to the side.

Weight

At 14 oz for men and 12.8 oz for women, the Brooks Addiction Walker is on the heavy side of all walking shoes, which tend to be light and ‘unnoticeable’ for the most part. However, this increase in weight makes perfect sense when you take into account the high-quality leather used to build the upper and the midsole cushioning. This shoe is made for those who appreciate the added support ad motion control and who enjoy the overall sturdiness this shoe offers. While light shoes have their advantages, the Walker will make up for some extra weight in quality, durability, and comfort.

Breathability

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Brooks Addiction Walker isn’t lauded for its breathability. While the inside of the upper is lined with somewhat breathable fabric that’s supposed to prevent the foot from overheating, there’s no escaping the fact that this shoe isn’t the airflow champion. However, it’s meant to be used for walking, not running, and as walking requires less energy, it naturally creates less sweat and steam in the shoe box, which means that even though this shoe isn’t breathable, that doesn’t mean that your feet will suffer much from it. That is, of course, if you’re not logging miles on a hot summer day.

Comfort

Comfort is the main selling attribute of the Brooks Addiction Walker – your feet won’t be tired and painful even after long walks and long periods of standing. This Walker can also provide comfort on short, light runs as well. A lot of people who suffer from plantar fasciitis, back, foot or leg pain have praised the shoe’s ability to relieve discomfort and pain. For those who have their custom orthopedic insoles, you’ll be pleased to know they can fit easily into the Brooks Addiction Walker. The fit runs true to size and the wide options up to 4E and 2E are available for both men and women, respectively.

Style

A lot of people would say that this shoe has a love-it-or-hate-it design. Well, we beg to differ. As far as the design goes, the Addiction Walker would be best described as bulky minimalist. Most people who enjoy the sturdy design will say that it’s practical to wear to work, pair with casual outfits, and to wear throughout the day in general. However, it’s hard to escape the fact that this is the kind of shoe your aunt would describe as ‘stylish and practical’, which is only half-true. This doesn’t mean that there’s room to hate on the shoe’s design: it’s simple, it’s utilitarian and it’s made an effort to blend seamlessly into your outfit. You can’t hate this shoe just as you can’t hate an enormous puffy winter jacket – it’s not here to be beautiful, it’s here to fulfill a purpose. The shoe comes in three evergreen colors: all-white, all-black and brown-black.

Durability

Durability, as well as comfort, is where the Brooks Addiction Walker excels. The outsole is lined with the anti-slip high-performance rubber that increases its durability greatly, the BioMoGo DNA midsole platform is made to last and provides long-term cushioning, and the upper is made of high-quality, sturdy leather that won’t get stretched or torn any time soon.

Protection

As far as the protection is concerned, the Brooks Addiction Walker features the rear Extended Progressive Diagonal Rollbar (PDRB) padding in the midsole, designed to protect the arches of the feet by providing great shock-absorption. The thickness of the midsole in itself dampens the ground feel and protects your feet from the shock impact and uneven terrain.

Responsiveness

The HydroFlow technology featured in the midsole BioMoGo DNA platform provides a great balance of cushioning and responsiveness. The innovative technology is able to change the gooey liquid’s viscosity when that’s needed for absorbing the ground shock, making the sole of this comfy shoe responsive at the requirement. The full-length foam midsole provides great cushioning while retaining its form and basic firmness needed to make the walking experience bouncy and easy.

Support

The Brooks Addiction Walker is ideal for people with low or flat arches and overpronation issues. The shoe provides support in the sturdy upper, padded collar, as well as in the rearfoot of the midsole, providing great support and amazing comfort on long walks. This supportive shoe makes walking easier and pain-free with the blend of great cushioning, full-grain leather upper support, and motion control which corrects the gait by returning it into a natural position. Also, it’s worth mentioning that a lot of overweight customers were happy to report that the shoe supported their weight really well and that they didn’t have any pain in their feet after walking in it for some time.

Terrain

The Brooks Addiction Walker is a shoe made with everyday walks in mind. These daily walks include concrete, pavement, track, gravel and other mild-to-moderate uneven surfaces. The amazing cushioning in the midsole provides a smooth and comfortable experience when walking on uneven surfaces due to the fact that you won’t feel pebbles, smaller rocks, or other uneven terrains.

Price

The Addiction Walker’s price is steep, especially if you were to look at it from a fashion perspective. Every year, or every season, a lot of people will opt for renewing their shoe collection with another stylish, trendy pair, and when you think that you need to cash out a large sum for one pair of shoes, you’d probably get to choosing a cheaper pair. However, if you look at this price point as a health investment, the price suddenly becomes acceptable, although not insignificant. Every podiatrist will tell you that a high-quality walking shoe could prevent the development of arthritis and other similar diseases. With that in mind, it’s up to you to decide if your health is worth this money, keeping in mind that the timeless colors and durability of the shoe will allow for years spent in a single pair.

Traction

The slip-resistant rubber on the environment-friendly outsole of this supportive walking shoe is reliable, durable and will provide great traction on both wet and dry surfaces. In this shoe, you can walk with certainty that you won’t slip and injure yourself due to poor traction.

Flexibility

With the Brooks Addiction Walker, the outsole and the midsole cushioning work in unison to offer stable flexibility from heel strike t toe-off. Although the flexibility of this shoe is more than enough for its intended purpose, the thickness of its midsole and the sturdiness of the upper material prevent it from being a shoe you can bend at a 90-degree angle as you can with some running shoes. Nevertheless, your feet won’t feel stiff in the Addiction Walker during the entire gait cycle.

Stability

This shoe is made for people who experience issues with regular and severe overpronation, which means that it’s vital to have good cushioning, as well as a sturdy upper structure and ankle support that will prevent twisting and rolling of the ankle while correcting the overpronating gait. The Addiction Walker will prevent the inward rolling of the foot, providing the much-needed stability to overpronators and keep the overpronation under control.

Drop

The heel-to-toe drop of this comfy walking shoe measures 12mm, making this a high-drop shoe considered to be best-suited for moderate heel-strikers. Midfoot strikers could also give this shoe a chance, although chances are that you’ll find the added heel getting in the way of your regular gait cycle.

Key Features

- Slip-resistant rubber outsole
- BioMoGo DNA platform midsole with Extended Progressive Diagonal Rollbar (PDRB) arch support
- Full-grain leather upper
- Minimal breathability
- Extremely comfortable
- Durable
- Expensive
- Walking shoe
- Supportive, suitable for overpronation and low/flat arches
- The environment-friendly biodegradable midsole foam

Bottom Line

Aside from its robust look, high price and lack of breathability, there’s not much that can be objected to the Brooks Addiction Walker. This walking shoe is made out of high-quality, durable materials that will last you for several years and it has stability and support features that make it an ideal walking shoe for overpronators, people with low arches, and overweight individuals as well. The steady, cushioned platform is made out of biodegradable foam, and the gooey liquid inside provides good energy-return. If you need a simple, sturdy, quality-made walking shoe to wear every day, on long walks or to a short light jog, and if you’re willing to invest some cash into your future health, the Brooks Addiction Walker is made for you.